Digital Commons Network^™

Establishing A Quantitative Foundation For Exactly Constrained Design, Alisha M. Hammond

Theses and Dissertations

Exactly constrained (EC) design is a robust design method which can be used for mechanical assemblies. It entails using the minimum number of constraints to eliminate all desired motion.

While found by some engineers in industry to have many benefits (including robust assembly, no binding or play, ease of assembly, and the ability to tolerate the wear of parts), EC designs remain somewhat unrecognized by academia. One reason for this minimal exposure may be the lack of a quantitative foundation for such designs. This thesis describes the history and current background for EC designs, and it also begins to develop …

December 20, 2003 (Pages 6197-6396), Pennsylvania Legislative Reference Bureau

Volume 33 (2003)

No abstract provided.

Search For High-Energy Gamma Rays From An X-Ray-Selected Blazar Sample, P. T. Reynolds, Et. Al.

Physical Sciences Publications

Our understanding of blazars has been greatly increased in recent years by extensive multiwavelength observations, particularly in the radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray regions. Over the past decade the Whipple 10 m telescope has contributed to this with the detection of five BL Lacertae objects at very high gamma-ray energies. The combination of multiwavelength data has shown that blazars follow a well-defined sequence in terms of their broadband spectral properties. Together with providing constraints on emission models, this information has yielded a means by which potential sources of TeV emission may be identified and predictions made as to their possible gamma-ray …

Overexpression Of Gk In Gk-Transformed Cells Collapses The Golgi Apparatus Into The Endoplasmic Reticulum Inhibiting Virion Egress, Glycoprotein Transport, And Virus-Induced Cell Fusion, Timothy P. Foster, Galena V. Rybachuk, Xavier Alvarez, Olga Borkhsenious, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

Intracellular transport and egress of alphaherpesviruses require the coordinate function of multiple proteins and glycoproteins. Recently, we showed that gK is expressed on infected cell surfaces and that gK cell-surface expression required the presence of the UL20 protein [J. Virol. 77 (2003), 499]. Overexpression of gK by gK-transformed cells blocked transport of enveloped virions from perinuclear spaces and inhibited virus-induced cell fusion caused by gK syncytial mutants [J. Virol. 69 (1995), 5401]. Therefore, we investigated whether altered synthesis and transport of gK was responsible for the observed gK-mediated interference phenomena. HSV-1 infection of the gK-transformed cell line Vero (gK9) caused …

Brief Amicus Curiae Of Joseph R. Grodin As Amicus Curiae Supporting Neither Party (Vacatur), Elk Grove Unified School District V. Newdow, No. 02-1624 (U.S. Dec. 19, 2003), ., Neal K. Katyal

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Youngblood V. Deweese

2003 Decisions

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Sarullo V. Us Postal Ser

2003 Decisions

United States District Court for the District of New Jersey

Doe V. Goldstein's Deli

2003 Decisions

United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Biofiltration For Control Of H2s From Wastewater Treatment Plant Gases, Vivian Bermudez

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

A low-cost and efficient methodology was used to test the performance of a biofilter removing gaseous hydrogen sulfide generated in the headworks and a primary clarifier of a local Wastewater Treatment Plant. The contaminated gas stream is distributed upward through 1,718 m3 of filter material. With a flow rate varying between 3,503.0 m3/h and 4,587.3 m3/h and hydrogen sulfide inlet concentrations between 0.8 and 146 ppm, hydrogen sulfide was efficiently eliminated by the wood bark biofilter. The removal efficiencies ranged from 97.5% to 99.9%. The mean water content of the filter material was determined to be 67.1%. The excess water …

The Political Determinants Of The Impact Of Natural Disasters: A Cross-Country Comparison, Ezra Boyd

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

While people all over the world are vulnerable to natural disasters, the available data clearly demonstrate a great deal of cross-country variance in the impact of catastrophic events. For example, while Hurricane Mitch took an estimated 13,000 lives when it struck Honduras and Nicaragua, the stronger Hurricane Andrew took only 26 lives when it impacted the United States. What factors explain this difference? Thus far, disaster researchers have emphasized economic and social vulnerability as determinants of disaster impact; the conventional wisdom accepts that poor and underdeveloped countries are more vulnerable than wealthy, developed countries. I argue that the political institutions …

Perilous Polities? Regime Transition And Conflict 1950-2000, Ursula Daxecker

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

While evidence continues to mount that democracies resort to military force reluctantly, the transition to democracy may in fact be a dangerous and conflictual one. With the eyes of the world now focused squarely on democratization, a reassessment of the relationship between regime change and inter-state conflict seems fitting. To date, the evidence remains mixed. No clear consensus has emerged on whether regime transition either increases or decreases conflict propensities. The research here builds on models of democratization and conflict by including a more fully specified vector of conflict variables and by using an updated set of cases. Further, interaction …

Lekhost A Tize: An Experiment In Film Production Methodology, Talley Mulligan

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Proliferation and convergence of new technologies as well as the diverse media it has given rise to have had a dramatic impact on the theory and practice of contemporary filmmaking. This trend also holds considerable implication for the range of cinematic forms likely to be embraced in the future as well as the methodologies necessarily exploited in their making. The formal and expressive possibilities inherent in the climate of experimentation existing at this unique juncture in history encourage out-of-the-ordinary solutions to long-standing problems while begging important questions regarding the process and goal of filmmaking. Taking the films of the Czech …

The Accidental Place: Louis Armstrong Park Out Of Place On The North Side, Yvonne Estrade

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The failed New Orleans Cultural Center Complex was cultural genocide to an area of the neighborhood known as Treme, where a tribute to the jazz great and native son, Louis Armstrong, was planned as an afterthought. The questions remain, was the planning and building of Louis Armstrong Park responsible for the genocide of the Treme neighborhood, is the park an appropriate use of land, and what are the prospects for the park's future? This thesis examines the cultural gumbo of New Orleans history, explores the early days of Louis Armstrong and the development of jazz, sets the record straight by …

Novel Pitch Detection Algorithm With Application To Speech Coding, Vijay Kura

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis introduces a novel method for accurate pitch detection and speech segmentation, named Multi-feature, Autocorrelation (ACR) and Wavelet Technique (MAWT). MAWT uses feature extraction, and ACR applied on Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) residuals, with a wavelet-based refinement step. MAWT opens the way for a unique approach to modeling: although speech is divided into segments, the success of voicing decisions is not crucial. Experiments demonstrate the superiority of MAWT in pitch period detection accuracy over existing methods, and illustrate its advantages for speech segmentation. These advantages are more pronounced for gain-varying and transitional speech, and under noisy conditions.

Synthesis And Biological Evaluation Of Novel Epibatidine Analogues, Ying Liu

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In an effect to develop for more selective neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor analgesics that have less toxicity and adverse side effects relative to epibatidine, three new classes of epibatidine analogues were synthesized and evaluated in vitro as potential potent selective nAChR ligands. Specifically, three analogues of epibatidine were synthesized to explore the structure-activity relationships of epibatidine relative to neuromuscular blocking activity as well as nAChRs. Both quaternary epibatidine analogues 2 and bis-epibatidine derivative 3 exhibited high binding affinity relative to nicotine. In addition, a new series of 2-(hydroxyalkylpyridyl)-7-azabicyclo[2.2.1]heptane derivatives were synthesized and evaluated as potential ligands for nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. …

Determination Of Phase Fraction, Lattice Parameters And Crystallite Size In Mechanically Alloyed Fe-Ni Powders, Dileep Simhadri

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This is the first systematic report on the synthesis of mechanically alloyed Fe-Ni powders ball milled at liquid nitrogen temperature. Pure Fe-Ni samples were ball milled in a SPEX 8000 shaker mill at liquid nitrogen temperature. X-ray diffractometry was used to determine the phase fractions of the bcc and fcc phases in the alloys and to determine the lattice parameters and crystallite size. The main objective of this project is to study how the milling at low temperatures affects the region of two phase co-existence, phase structure and crystallite size. It was found that the composition ranges of the bcc …

Electrospray Fundamentals And Non-Covalent Peptide-Lipid Interactions As Studied By Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Reonance Mass Spectrometry, Yan Li

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

A novel electrochemical probe has been designed, built, and used to characterize the distribution in solution potential within the metal capillary and Taylor cone of the electrospray (ES) device. Results show that the measured potential difference increases as the internal probe travels toward the ES capillary exit, with values rising sharply as the base of the Taylor cone is penetrated. Higher conductivity solutions exhibit potentials of higher magnitude at longer distances away from the counter electrode, but these same solutions show lower potentials near the ES capillary exit. Removal of easily oxidizable species from the solution causes the measured potential …

Inspector Discretion And Industry Compliance In The Street-Level Implementation Of Building Codes, William Mclean

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines inspector discretion and industry compliance in the street-level implementation of building codes. In particular, this study examines the effects that agency-level, individual-level, and environmental variables have on the choice of inspectors to exercise discretion. Unique to this study is the examination of policy congruence between building departments and street-level inspectors as a predictor of industry compliance with regulatory policy. In addition, the various effects of building department enforcement philosophies, departmental capacity for enforced compliance, and environmental variables are considered. The findings indicate that regulatory policy implementation and impact are complex phenomena. There is no single, best predictor …

Best Linear Unbiased Estimation Fusion With Constraints, Keshu Zhang

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Estimation fusion, or data fusion for estimation, is the problem of how to best utilize useful information contained in multiple data sets for the purpose of estimating an unknown quantity — a parameter or a process. Estimation fusion with constraints gives rise to challenging theoretical problems given the observations from multiple geometrically dispersed sensors: Under dimensionality constraints, how to preprocess data at each local sensor to achieve the best estimation accuracy at the fusion center? Under communication bandwidth constraints, how to quantize local sensor data to minimize the estimation error at the fusion center? Under constraints on storage, how to …

Arthritic Flexibilities: Analysis Of Wto Action Regarding Paragraph 6 Of The Doha Declaration On The Trips Agreement And Public Health, Brook K. Baker

ExpressO

This paper explores the tortured history of developing countries’ pursuit of access to affordable generic medicines that they are unable to produce efficiently on their own. Having lost rights to treat medicines as essential commodities and as generalized exceptions to patent protections in the WTO TRIPS Agreement, developing countries and public health activists temporarily reasserted the primacy of health over profits in the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health in November of 2001. However, since most developing countries lack meaningful pharmaceutical capacity to manufacture medicines efficiently on their own, they needed flexibility to import medicines from countries …

Butler V. Camden

2003 Decisions

United States District Court for the District of New Jersey

Basic Education In Cambodia: The Impact Of Unesco On Policies In The 1990s, Sideth S. Dy, Akira Ninomiya

Education Policy Analysis Archives (EPAA)

… This article examines the joint efforts during the 1990s of this organization as a key assistance and support UN agency for educational policy and strategy formulations, an the Cambodian government as a national agency for educational initiatives and implementation. UNESCO’s inputs for policy implementation are also detailed to evaluate the overall impact of the organization during the last decade. ...

Dominican Troops In Iraq, Ladb Staff

NotiCen

No abstract provided.

Trenkler V. Pugh

2003 Decisions

United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Boone V. Comm Social Security

2003 Decisions

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Gale V. Vaughn

2003 Decisions

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Johnson V. Secretary Veterans

2003 Decisions

United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Tucker V. Varner

2003 Decisions

United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Education Policy Analysis Archives 11/48 , Arizona State University, University Of South Florida

College of Education Publications

Basic education in Cambodia : the impact of UNESCO on policies in the 1990s / Sideth S. Dy [and] Akira Ninomiya.

Mccurdy V. Dodd

2003 Decisions

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania